


all the strings attached

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-18 15:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20641766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: peter parker x bestfriend!readersleepovers with your best friend are usually carefree, but when things go downhill, it seems like maybe things are ruined between the two of you. luckily, peter knows exactly how to fix it.





	all the strings attached

**Author's Note:**

> warnings: a little bit of angst cause peter’s an idiot, but otherwise if you’re allergic to fluff than you might wanna find an epi-pen or something cause there’s a LOT
> 
> peter, one day this is not going to end well for you. but i hope you enjoy the silly, fluffy awkwardness of this because i do

**** “All I’m saying is that maybe you should share the M&M’s.” Peter reached his hand out from where he sat cross-legged on your bed, floppy pajama pants falling over his legs and his large long-sleeved Midtown shirt brushing your hand as he lunged for the bag. 

“Peter, get your own. These are  _ my  _ M&M’s. And you have Skittles, so what do you need these for?” You crossed your arms over your chest defensively, zipping the bag of M&M’s shut. 

Peter glared at you, his lip sticking out in a pout. “Not fair.” He slumped back against the pillows, refusing to look at you as he copied your positions, arms folding over his chest grumpily. 

“Is, too fair!” But you threw one of the small red candies from the bag at Peter, who grabbed it out of mid-air and popped it into his mouth. 

“See, now, was that so hard?” Peter asked teasingly, his eyes sparkling. 

“Don’t get any ideas, Parker. You’re not getting any more M&M’s.” You rolled your eyes at your best friend, leaning your back against the pillows that stretched all across the headboard of the queen-sized bed. “You owe me a Skittle now, y’know.” 

“You don’t even  _ like  _ Skittles!” Peter exclaimed, raising an eyebrow at you incredulously. “You’re always complaining about how they’re too ‘fruity,’ whatever that means, and-”   
“Pay up, Parker.” You held your hand out expectantly, your eyebrows raised in an expression daring him to challenge you. 

“Ugh.” Peter’s head fell back against the headboard. “Y/N, you  _ kill  _ me.” Still, he dropped a green Skittle into your hand, and you didn’t hesitate to pelt it at him, hitting him in the stomach with the sweet candy. 

“You know you love me, though.” You smirked at your best friend, who rolled his eyes at you. 

“Sometimes I wonder why.” 

“Shut up, Parker.” You giggled at him. “You wanna start a movie?”    
Peter nodded. “As long as it’s not one of those cheesy rom-coms you’re always talking about. Y/N, you try to deny it, but I can tell you’re a hopeless romantic at heart.”

“Am not! And what’s wrong with my cheesy rom-coms?” you asked defensively. “Peter, you can try and hide it all you want, but I know you like them, too.” 

“They’re just so… unrealistic. They make no sense, and it’s not like they actually give you any good advice when it comes to that type of stuff.” 

“Yeah, they’re unrealistic, but that’s what makes them comedies. And why’re you looking for advice, Parker?” You grinned at Peter, poking him in the side and laughing when he squirmed away. “Got your eye on a special someone?” 

“No.” You stared at him until he broke his gaze away from yours, glancing in the opposite direction. “Look, can we just start the movie?” 

You smiled softly, glancing at the blush that had appeared on his face. Truth was, you’d been harboring a secret crush on your best friend since the ninth grade, but you’d never risk telling anyone about it. Even through the butterflies that appeared in your stomach whenever you saw him; the hot, tingling sensation that you felt on your face when he flashed one of his trademark smiles at you; and his silly, teasing laughter that you were sure would be the death of you, you knew that there was no way your little crush would ever be reciprocated, so you tried to stuff your feelings into the darkest corner of your heart, so that maybe you wouldn’t even be able to tell they were there. “What do you want to watch?” 

Peter rolled his eyes, his gaze falling on you. “I  _ guess  _ you can choose.” Peter adjusted the pillows, and you couldn’t help but notice that the distance between the two of you had shrunk. As an afterthought, he added, “Don’t make me regret this, Y/N.”

“Shush, Parker,” you said with a laugh, lightly hitting him on the upper arm. “You like my movies, and you know it.” 

“Yeah, I do.” Peter’s gaze wandered to yours, and you found yourself taking in every aspect of his face, from his sharp jawbone to his pointed nose, and the way his lips curled into a tiny smile, and the tiny scar he had above his left eyebrow. And you couldn’t help but wonder if he noticed those types of tiny details on your face too, like the way your cheeks were always tinted a little bit pink (especially when you were around him), and the way your left eye was always a little squintier and smaller than your right one. 

Slowly, you turned back to the movie, trying to adjust your position to make it more comfortable but finding that most of the pillows had migrated to Peter’s side of the bed. “Quit stealing all the pillows!” 

“Sorry, sorry,” Peter apologized, laughing as he handed some of them back to you. You hit him with a fluffy white throw pillow, getting a smack with a large body pillow in return. “Hey, quit that!” 

“Never!” you replied with a cackle, sitting up on your knees as you tossed pillows at Peter. He squirmed and put his hands up in an attempt at defense, but you fell on top of him, laying your head on his stomach. 

“I’m not giving you any more pillows if that’s what you’re going to do with them,” Peter said, poking you in the side when you glared at him. 

“You deserved it for stealing all of them.” 

“Did not!” Peter laughed, and you rolled off of his stomach, placing your head on the pillow, right next to Peter’s. 

Your attention turned back to the movie, one of Peter’s hands toying with your hair and the other draped over your waist. Still, you found it hard to focus on what the actors were saying with the boy’s quiet breaths in your heart, his arm wrapped protectively around you, and your mind kept drifting back to his response to your question about a ‘special someone’.  _ Look, can we just start the movie? _

“You okay?” Peter glanced down at you, and you noticed then that you’d curled away from him. 

“Yeah, it’s just… yeah. I’m fine.” You rolled over so you were facing Peter again, poking his cheek teasingly. 

“Hey, uh… there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. Or, uh, tell you, I guess.” Peter watched you carefully, and you could tell from the way he was acting that he was scared out of his mind. 

“Yeah?”    
Peter’s eyes locked on yours, and you could see the pure terror in them; it was like he was in a life-or-death situation, rather than laying on your bed at midnight for another sleepover. 

“I just, I wanted to say that I…” 

“You…?”

“Never mind. It’s not important.” Peter glanced away from you, his gaze seeming to wander anywhere expect your eyes. 

“Peter, I care about what you have to say. Just tell me.” 

Peter inhaled slowly, and you could practically hear the racing rhythm of his heart from where you lay a few inches away. “So… say that there’s a person, and I want to tell that person that I like them. What do you think I should say? This is… all theoretical of course.”

You didn’t reply for a second, trying to process Peter’s words. You didn’t want to get your hopes up too much- you knew from experience that that never ended well- but something in the tone of Peter’s voice, the crack in his throat as he tried to maintain eye contact with you, made you wonder if maybe there was something between you and Peter. Or, more importantly, if there ever  _ could _ be something. 

You met his gaze again. “I think that if you like them, then maybe… maybe you should just  _ tell _ them. Don’t think about it too much, just… say it.” Peter stared at you, his eyes exploring your own, and you found it impossible to look away. It was like you were only half-conscious- you weren’t exactly sure what was happening, yet you couldn’t stop yourself from giving into the impulse that was overtaking your body, taking over your senses. Peter was mere centimeters away from you, and all it would take was  _ one step,  _ one swift motion to close the gap between the two of you, and you were starting to think maybe you should- 

“So you think I should ask out MJ?” Peter blurted out the words suddenly, rolling quickly onto his back and pulling away from you. 

“ _ MJ _ ?” You couldn’t keep the stunned expression from your face, and although you didn’t show it, your heart was dropping out of your chest, its little shattered pieces seeming to scatter with the non-existent wind. “I mean- yeah. If you like MJ, ask her out, Peter. Just make sure you don’t lead her on.” As hard as you tried, you couldn’t keep the bitterness from creeping into your tone, creating a tense silence between you and Peter.

“Maybe we should go to sleep,” you said a few minutes later, facing away from Peter and reaching to turn the light off.    
Peter was silent, but you didn’t bother to glance over at him. Instead, you flicked the light switch off and curled into the covers, your heart pounding in anger and frustration and jealousy. The condescending voice in your head refused to go away, and you clenched your teeth, trying to calm your mind. 

But there was still something in you that wouldn’t forgive you for getting your hopes up. It was ridiculous to think that you and Peter had ever had a chance, especially when you were… well,  _ you.  _ It was insane of you to imagine that someone like Peter would ever like someone like you- you were so boring, so average, so  _ mediocre, _ in every single way, and your best friend was  _ Peter Parker,  _ also known as Spider-Man, your city’s most well-known hero, the one who saved the day, well,  _ every  _ day, and on top of that, he was a genius, acing chemistry at the top of the class as well as receiving straight A’s in every other subject. Not to say you were a bad student, but it wasn’t like you hadn’t struggled in science, and it was hard to watch Peter breeze by, barely even trying, while you were stuck there for hours, growing dizzy from staring at your notes for so long. It felt like you were behind everyone else in  _ everything,  _ and you didn’t want to hinder Peter’s success or hold him back because of a stupid little crush. 

_ You’re not good enough. _

Why was it that every time you were finally happy, these stupid things called  _ feelings  _ had to come along and ruin everything? 

You sighed softly, crawling out of bed and tip-toeing towards the door that led to the patio and fire escape. You leaned towards the railing, glaring down at the ground and trying to keep the tears from brimming in your eyes. How had a night that was supposed to be perfect turned into  _ this _ , into you trying to keep yourself from breaking? It felt like there was a weight weighing down your on your shoulders, pushing you down and trying to make you fall, trying to make you collapse under the pressure until you were only crumbled into little pieces that, no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t put back together. 

And it  _ hurt.  _ It hurt to know that you’d ruined everything, ruined them with your stupid pettiness and your stupid hope and your stupid mouth. And it was hard to believe that you could fix this, because maybe you couldn’t, maybe this was the end, maybe it was all over- 

“Y/N?” Peter padded gently out onto the patio, his half-open eyes wandering to yours with a wondering gaze. “You okay?”    


“What do you think?” The sarcastic, bitter tone returned to your voice, and Peter’s flinch told you that it’d gotten to him, and you immediately wanted to take back the words, because he didn’t deserve to hurt. He didn’t deserve to be in this situation, and he didn’t deserve  _ this _ . Any of this. In a quieter, softer, voice, you added. “‘M not okay.” And despite how hard you tried, you couldn’t keep the tears from your eyes this time, and your voice cracked as they started pouring out. 

“Oh, Y/N.” Peter looked at you with sadness, walking over to you carefully as if trying not to startle you and gently placing his arms around you. “This okay?” 

You nodded, trying and failing to get words out. Letting your head fall into him, you cried until Peter finally cleared his throat, making you jump in surprise. 

“Y/N, I wasn’t completely honest earlier.” 

“What are you talking about, Peter?” Your voice was shaky, but it was an improvement from a minute ago, when you couldn’t speak at all.

“I asked if I should ask out MJ.” Peter glanced you quickly before looking away again, almost like he was afraid to meet your gaze. “But… MJ’s not the one I like.” 

“What do you mean?” You narrowed your eyes at him, but you refused to get your hopes up again. That had never ended well, and you were convinced that this time wouldn’t be the first that it did.

“Feelings are… really weird.” Peter leaned against the railing, his voice squeaking like that of a five-year-old’s, and you couldn’t help but smile. 

“They kind of are.” A small smirk appeared on your face, and you stared out at the buildings towering over you. They were so threatening, so menacing, that it was enough to make someone feel almost insignificant in the midst of the big city, like they didn’t exist. You sometimes wondered what it’d be like to live somewhere other than New York, somewhere where there wasn’t constant noise and light and action. Something was always happening here, and living in a small town had never appealed to you. How would you be able to think with the silence? 

“I’m going to tell you something, but I want you to be prepared for it. And I really don’t want you to take it the wrong way, but I’ve been thinking about how to say this for a while, and maybe I’ve got it figured out.” Your gaze darted to Peter, who was nervously studying his hands.  _ Take it the wrong way?  _ Did Peter really think so little of you that he thought you couldn’t handle whatever he was about to tell you? It was enough to make you a little anxious, too, and you wondered if it was really so bad that he thought you’d react strongly- or if he thought you were too weak to handle it. The thought annoyed you for a minute, but you realized that Peter was waiting for your reaction before continuing. 

“Just spit it out, Parker.” 

“Hey, don’t rush my poetic brilliance.” There was the Peter you knew- you rolled your eyes at him, laughing under your breath. But soon nervous Peter had taken control again, and he wrung his hands as he slowly began to speak. “Before I met you…. I never knew what it was like to look at someone and smile for no reason. You’re so…  _ beautiful _ , Y/N, and so sweet, and kind, and selfless, and it’s like you don’t even realize it, and I don’t know how I lived so long without knowing you. I want all of you, Y/N, with- with all the strings attached, and… and… I think I love you.” Peter said all of this in one breath, inhaling quickly as he finished his sentence. You were still trying to process what he was saying, and as you repeated the words in your head-  _ I think I love you-  _ your eyes found his. You could see the vulnerability, the  _ fear _ , taking over his gaze, and you smiled softly at your best friend, grabbing his hands and pulling him close to you. 

Your heart was beating quickly as you wrapped him in a hug, laying your head on his chest, comforted by the weight of Peter’s head on top of your own. His hands rested in the middle of your back now, and you tugged him closer, wanting to fill every gap that separated you. You leaned back to gaze up at him, his own eyes finding yours so you were staring lovingly into them. And before you could stop yourself, your hands were behind his head, and your lips were colliding, the taste of Peter’s mouth sweet and warm against your own. The kiss was short and sweet, but somehow, it still managed to leave you breathless, craving more, craving  _ Peter _ . You stood on your tiptoes to kiss him again, one of Peter’s hands finding its way to your head to cup your cheek in it. This time, the kiss was longer, and you stood there for what seemed like only a second but had to be a couple minutes drinking him in, taking in every taste, every feeling, every movement that Peter made, wanting to never let go of the moment. 

As you pulled away, a blush creeping to your cheeks, you stared at the ground.  _ Maybe he doesn’t really like you back. Maybe you’re a horrible kisser- what if he hated it and realized he also hates  _ you?

“I hope that was okay,” Peter said softly. “I get it if you don’t like me back. I shouldn’t have said anything, I probably went and messed things up between us even more, didn’t I? I’m sorry, Y/N, I-” But before he could say anything else, you had kissed him again, the sensation electrifying, setting your face on fire and leaving you on top of the world. 

“It was okay, Peter. It was more than okay.” The words were comforting, but the look on your face was what really gave all of your feelings away- you couldn’t keep the grin from your expression, your eyes sparkling and your cheeks a bright red visible even despite the darkness. 

“Really?”

You nodded, grabbing his hand and feeling your heart fill with happiness at the relieved, excited expression on Peter’s face. And you took a deep breath, an overwhelming sensation of nerves overcoming you all of a sudden. “Oh, and Peter?”

“Yeah, love?” 

“I think I love you, too.” At the elated smile on Peter’s face, you reached up to trail your touch down his jawbone, then down his chest, finding his hand again, your eyes never leaving his for a second. It took everything you had to keep yourself from crashing into him again, but something was so magical about this moment, about  _ everything,  _ that you couldn’t bring yourself to break the perfection. That’s what this was- Peter was perfect, no doubt about it, and you knew in that moment that the only thing you wanted was  _ him _ . He owned your heart, that much was true, and maybe he always had. Maybe you just hadn’t known it yet. Because this was more than a tiny little crush-  _ you were in love with your best friend. _

Peter Parker was yours, and you were his. And you knew right then and there that you always would be. 

“And you can have me, Peter Parker. With all the strings attached.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
